Brand Addiction

This is something I've been wondering for quite some time. Perfumery in all sorts has been been growing on me, and it's like a huge hobby for me. Day in day out, it kind of dictates my life.. either with reading, smelling, trying, creating etc. Though, the hobby could also be seen as collection. But, since there's soo many brands having perfumes, celebs (yuck) designers.. niche.. The fact is, since I met Dior Homme, Dior has fascinated me big time, though they are french (I'm too italian addicted). I like Armani aswell, but I got AdG wich is their only bright spark in the perfume industry.. haha. Though, I smelled like a few Dior's.. and they are all superb, in my eyes.. but It might be because the addiction the brand. Collection perfumes, I'd probally end up having each and every Dior male fragrances and flankers.

What about you? Are you in fond of collecting a particular brand or perfume line?

Re: Brand Addiction

I personally am not hung up with collecting a scent from a specific line, because 99.9% of the time I am unimpressed with all scents released by a certain house.

This being said, however, I have found only one niche house has released 4 / 4 fragrances that do float my boat - that's a 100% hit in my book! That house is Olivier Durbano.
If Durbano produced an "off" scent though, I most certainly wouldnt be buying a full bottle just for show.

Re: Brand Addiction

There might be people like that, but surely not me. After experiencing in the last two years with Creed, L'Artisan, Villoresi, Clive Christian, Miller Harris, Amouge, The Different Company, Montale - sorry, I've not found so far a single house from which even the majority of their scents I would find very satisfactory to my personal tastes.

Re: Brand Addiction

Based on my own experience I think what Justin W has stumbled on is simply one valid way to explore perfumery - specifically, house by house. I don't know if 'addiction' is the right word, but many times I've sampled a fragrance and liked it so much it has inspired me to try the others from the house. For smaller niche houses I now simply get samples of the entire line (before I make my purchasing decisions).

I've never found a house from which I like every single fragrance - I'm not sure such a thing is possible - but there are houses the overall styles of which I really like. My current project is Martine Micallef.

When it comes to a historical house like Dior there's a LOT to explore. They have a long history of excellent perfumery, and don't forget that Roudnitska produced many of his works for the house of Dior. I'm something of a Dior fan myself, though with more of a focus on their vintage fragrances more than their current lineup. I'd suggest someone with a budding interest in Dior look for samples of the 'three sisters' - Diorella, Diorama, Diorling. Older parfums are hard to come by. My Dioralla parfum is one of the gems of my collection.

Re: Brand Addiction

Probably Serge Lutens comes to closest to my "holy grail" perfume house. I could quite happily build a wardrobe of just Lutens fragrances - La Myrrhe, Tubereuse Criminelle, Rose de Nuit, Muscs Kublai Khan, Iris Silver Mist etc. This house has so many fragrances I love.

Still, I'd never collect all of them. There are too many "duds" for me, like Serge Noir and Five O'Clock Au Gingembre.

That being said, if you find a house you love, go for it! Dior has a bunch of fragrances I think are great - Diorissimo, Poison, Boid d'Argent etc. If you love them all, there's no reason not to have the full set.

Re: Brand Addiction

I get more interested in the works of perfumers. I've been trying to sample anything I can find by Alberto Morillas or Pierre Wargnye (Drakkar Noir excepted, as I have bad associations with that scent!).